


riiiiiinnnnngggg.

by gwendee



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, a phone call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 19:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20841104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwendee/pseuds/gwendee
Summary: “Do you want a pet?” Gakuhou asks. His fingers twitch in the direction of his laptop, but he decides to pay attention to the phone. It was much unlike his son to drop him a call and ask nonsensical questions, that, and Gakushuu sounded distracted.“No, I don’t think I have the time for that,” Gakushuu says, then laughs softly to himself.riiiiiinnnnnggggg.





	riiiiiinnnnngggg.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is just a short ficlet I wrote while I was, let's say, in need of some non-fluff. You'll see what i mean in a bit. The tags are pretty much nothing because there's really nothing I can tag about this, it's just a phone call, and I wish to avoid spoilers. 
> 
> Let me know if you vehemently disagree and think I should tag this more.

Gakuhou falters just a fraction before answering the phone, because Gakushuu never calls him. He texts and rather occasionally emails (should the matter be professional) but a phone call is unorthodox for his son. Very distantly Gakuhou wonders if there’s something wrong, and puts the receiver to his ear. 

“Asano speaking,” Gakuhou says smoothly.

“Dad?”

Gakuhou puts his pen down, brows furrowed. There was no assertion in his son's tone, but a mild confusion. “Gakushuu?”

“Hey…” Gakushuu’s voice is faint and muffled, like he’s holding his phone a foot away from him. Gakuhou frowns and sets his phone on speaker.

It’s hardly any better, the noise echoes a little on Gakushuu’s side of the line, but his voice remains quiet. “Can I ask you something?”

Gakuhou purses his lips. “Yes,” he says, and reaches for his earphones. It silences the ambient sounds outside his window. Gakushuu’s voice resonates strangely, he must be in a small room.

“Do you…” Gakushuu starts, pauses. Gakuhou waits for him to gather his thoughts, and absently shuffles a stack of paper. 

He looks down at his watch. 5.15. Gakushuu should have ended his classes at least an hour ago. 

“...Do you like dogs or cats better?”

Gakuhou blinks at his now empty desk. What a strange question.

“Are you at a pet store?” Gakuhou asks. Did his son want a pet? That hardly seemed like a spontaneous decision, not that Gakuhou would have objected, but he would have liked to be involved in a discussion prior, at the very least. 

Gakushuu laughs breathily. “No. I just realized I don’t know much about you.”

That was… Gakuhou clicks his pen. Odd. Is Gakushuu feeling alright? “Dogs,” he says.

“You do seem like a dog person,” Gakushuu agrees, sounding melancholy. 

“Do you want a pet?” Gakuhou asks. His fingers twitch in the direction of his laptop, but he decides to pay attention to the phone. It was much unlike his son to drop him a call and ask nonsensical questions, that, and Gakushuu didn’t sound quite right. He sounded distracted.

“No, I don’t think I have the time for that,” Gakushuu says, then laughs softly to himself. 

Gakuhou feels a smile quirk on his lip. Gakushuu had so many responsibilities and he hardly had time to himself, a dog would add to that burden but maybe a low-maintenance pet might do him good. Fish, perhaps, for the hall, so Gakushuu didn’t have to trouble himself with the cleaning. He hears they’re stress-relieving.

“What did you like about Mom?”

Gakuhou startles a little. Another strange question, without a single lead-in from the previous. What was he doing? “Why the sudden curiosity?”

“I don’t know…” Gakushuu says, “I was just....” He pauses again, and seconds tick by slowly without a sound. Gakuhou glances back down at his watch. 5.18.

“...wondering,” Gakushuu finishes. 

What was this boy up to? “She was a lovely woman,” Gakuhou says.

Gakushuu hums in the background, and a waiting silence follows. Gakuhou frowns again. What more did his son want? 

“She was intelligent,” Gakuhou lists. Generic, safe traits. “She challenged me, constantly, kept me on my toes.” Stimulating, enlightening. It would do Gakushuu good to find a partner like that, Gakuhou thinks, although he finds it hard to picture a suitable candidate that can match up to his son’s feisty prowess. Except… 

Gakushuu would go ballistic the mere suggestion, but it is a funny thought.. Perhaps he’ll find a more suitable match in MIT.

“That must be nice,” Gakushuu says faintly. Gakuhou turns the volume up, despite his phone’s suggestions. 

“Do I challenge you?”

Gakuhou’s default answer, to keep his son striving towards eventually surpassing him (and Gakuhou eagerly awaits the day) would be a hard, condescending no. The mood in the air was different today, Gakuhou thinks, and that answer hung heavily on his tongue.

“Yes,” he admits. 

“That’s nice,” Gakushuu says. Gakuhou thinks he hears a smile in his voice. He smiles too, despite himself.

“Do you miss Ikeda?’

Gakuhou freezes. Then he feels himself plunge into icy guilt and shame - they haven’t spoken about him yet, Ikeda, and Gakuhou thinks it’s a conversation long overdue, but he doesn’t expect it to come in the form of a strange little phone call at - he checks his watch again - 5.22. He has many thoughts about Ikeda and Gakushuu and his eventual education principles but he doesn’t think it should be discussed over the phone. 

But Gakushuu had asked a question, and this is not a matter Gakuhou wishes to shy from, lest the eventual conversation about it becomes more tense. “Yes,” he says, and tries to gauge Gakushuu’s reaction.

There’s another long pause over the phone, so long that Gakuhou double-checks his earphones and his screen to see that the call is still running, and he strains his ears enough to hear soft, ragged breathing. What was happening?

Then, finally, “I miss him too.”

Gakuhou sucks in a sharp breath. What-

“I don’t think I can make it home for dinner tonight,” Gakushuu says. 

What? What? “That’s…” Gakuhou hisses sharply between his teeth and he worries at his lip. “What time will you be back?”

The answer he gets is a quiet “...I don’t know.” Gakuhou opens his mouth to speak, but there’s another long pause on the line, and if he strains his ears enough he thinks he can hear his son’s quiet, steady breathing. It’s 5.23.

“Gakushuu?”

“I love you,” Gakushuu blurts out in a quick breath, so hastily that it sounds like it was forced out of him, and for the first time in the phone call unrelenting terror grips Gakuhou like a vice. He stands up so quickly his chair goes skidding backwards, and he rips the blinds off his window.

It’s a mostly-empty school courtyard, save for a couple of students milling about. Gakushuu’s not amongst them - of course not, his lessons ended hours ago, he should be home, shouldn’t he?

Gakuhou looks down at his watch. 5.25.

“Gakushuu?”

“Don’t get mad at me,” Gakushuu says, so softly that Gakuhou almost thought he’d imagined it. These are not words he’s ever heard Gakushuu say. 

“I won’t,” Gakuhou says quickly. “Tell me what happened. Where are you?” 

He’s already at the door. Light from the hallway spills into his office. Gakushuu’s not there. Gakuhou doesn’t expect him to be, but he grows even more anxious, and briskly heads down the corridor. “Gakushuu? Where are you?”

“I don’t know,” Gakushuu says. He sounds... scared. He shouldn't be scared. Gakushuu was strong and he's prepared for any eventualities. “Papa?”

Gakuhou bursts into the foyer. The students look at him with various stages of bewilderment and apprehension, and he doesn’t acknowledge any of them.

“Gakushuu, where are you?”

“I don’t know,” Gakushuu repeats. There’s a hitch in his words, then a shuddering breath, and Gakuhou turns around and starts sprinting up the mountain to 3-E’s classroom. 

“Don’t hang up, please,” Gakushuu begs. He’s scared, is he crying? He’s crying.

“Koro-sensei!” Gakuhou starts yelling. “Koro-sensei! I need-”

“Papa,” Gakushuu sobs.

“Papa’s right here,” Gakuhou says desperately. “I’m with you. I’m going to come get you, okay? Koro! Octopus!”

“Don’t be mad at me,” Gakushuu's sobbing harder, “don’t be mad at me, papa? I can’t come home for dinner tonight.”

“You will,” Gakuhou grips his phone tightly. He’s made it but… the 3-E classroom is empty? Where  _ the fuck  _ is everyone?

It’s 5.38. School’s ended hours ago. Gakushuu should have been home by now.

“Koro!”

_ Gakushuu should have been home by now. _

“Don’t be mad at me, papa,” Gakushuu says. “Don’t reform the education system again, okay? I’m sorry I’m not strong enough. I can’t come home for dinner tonight.”

“You will!” Gakuhou yells. “You are strong eno- you’re the best challenge I ever had, Gakushuu, you’re-”

“Don’t be m-mad at me, p-papa,” Gakushuu cries, “I’m s-s-sorry-”

“I’m not mad at you!” Gakuhou screams, his heart breaking into tiny little pieces. “Papa’s not mad at you! Gakushuu, I lo-”

The call cuts.

_ riiiiiinnnnnggggg. _

_ riiiiiinnnnnggggg. _

**Author's Note:**

> A nice way to kickstart the spooky season, don't you think? ;)
> 
> Update (3/10): Hi guys! I see a lot of you hate me. That's great! I'm in a sadistic mood now ;) so if you want me to torture any characters let me know. 
> 
> Speaking of, just want to clarify some stuff about this fic. It's a oneshot so sorry if you were hoping for the mess to clear up and for Shuu to come home safe and sound ;P You can imagine he does, or he doesn't, you can write me a strongly worded message on my tumblr (which I SWEAR I'm trying to be more active on okay) or in the comments. HAHA
> 
> It's completely up to intepretation as to what happened to him although valid ones are he's been attacked or been in a bad accident (currently somewhere bleeding to death or something), kidnapped and someone's holding a phone up to his ear (possible but a bit of a stretch with the pacing), kidnapped but escaped and currently in hiding (the one I imagined while writing this fic, actually. The long pauses were for instances where Gakushuu thought someone was passing by his hiding spot and kept super quiet.) 
> 
> I won't say anymore since this is meant to be an ambiguous fic hehe. See everyone soon! Stay in the spooky spirit ;)


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